The direct conversion of radioisotope beta (electron) emissions into usable electrical power via beta emissions directly impinging on a semiconductor was first proposed in the 1950's. These devices are known as Direct Conversion Semiconductor Devices, Beta Cells, Betavoltaic Devices, Betavoltaic Batteries, Isotope Batteries etc. These direct conversion devices promise to deliver consistent long-term battery power for years and even decades. For this reason, many attempts have been made to commercialize such a device. However, in the hopes of achieving reasonable power levels, the radioisotope of choice often emitted unsafe amounts of high energy radiation that would either destroy the semiconductor within the betavoltaic battery or the surrounding electronic devices powered by the battery. The radiated energy may also be harmful to operators in the vicinity of the battery.
As a result of these disadvantages and in an effort to gain approval from nuclear regulatory agencies for these types of batteries, the choice for radioisotopes has been limited to low energy beta (electron) emitting radioisotopes such as Nickel-63, Promethium-147 or Tritium. Due to the fact, that Promethium-147 is regulated more stringently and requires considerable shielding and Nickel-63 has a low beta flux, Tritium has emerged as a leading candidate for such a battery device.
Tritium betavoltaic batteries, sometimes referred to as Tritium betavoltaic devices or Tritium direct conversion devices, have been promoted during the last thirty years. Tritium is a relatively benign radioisotope with low beta energy emission that can easily be shielded with as little as a thin sheet of paper. Tritium has a long track record in commercial use in illumination devices such as EXIT signs in commercial aircraft, stores, school buildings and theatres. It is also widely used in gun sights and watch dials, making it an ideal power source for the direct conversion devices. Unfortunately, Tritium's beta emissions are so low energy that it is has been difficult to efficiently convert it into usable electrical power for even the most low power applications, such as powering SRAM memory to prevent the loss of stored data.
Several attempts have been made to produce useful current from a Tritium betavoltaic battery. For example, polycrystalline or amorphous semiconductor based betavoltaic batteries are less expensive to manufacture and have been studied as possible Tritium batteries due to the fact that large surface areas may be produced in a thin-film-like fashion with embedded Tritium within the semiconductor or on the surface of the semiconductor. However, this approach is extremely inefficient (much less than 1%) with respect to the beta energy emissions entering the semiconductor. The main reason for this low semiconductor conversion efficiency is the high dark current or leakage current of the semiconductor that acts as a negative current. This high dark current competes with the battery current produced by the electron hole pairs (EHPs) created via the Tritium beta particles impinging on the semiconductor. In short, the polycrystalline and amorphous semiconductors have a high number of defects resulting in recombination centers for the EHPs created by the Tritium beta particles in the semiconductor and therefore resulting a very poor efficiency.
Other recent attempts have involved single crystalline semiconductor devices with a Tritium source such as a Tritiated polymer, aerogel or Tritiated metal hydride placed in direct contact with the semiconductor. Single crystalline semiconductors have longer carrier lifetimes and fewer defects resulting in a lower dark current. To date, the highest reported efficiencies for Tritium betavoltaic battery were published in a reference text entitled: “Polymers, Phosphors and Voltaics for Radioisotope Microbatteries” edited by K. Bower et al. The direct conversion single crystal semiconductors were exposed to a Tritium Metal Hydride source atop the semiconductor. The following homojunction semiconductor cells were utilized with the following results:
Silicon Cells:                Short Circuit Current=18.1 nA/cm^2        Open Circuit Voltage=0.162        Fill Factor=0.513        Tritiated Titanium Source=0.23 microwatts/cm^2        Efficiency=1.3%        
Aluminum Gallium Arsenide (AlGaAs) Cells:                Short Circuit Current=58 nA/cm^2        Open Circuit Voltage=0.62        Fill Factor=0.751,        Power=27 nW/cm^2        Tritiated Titanium Source=0.48 microwatts/cm^2,        Efficiency=5.6%        
Silicon cells are a preferred choice due to their low cost. However, their low efficiency makes them a poor choice for even the most low power applications, such as SRAM memory devices. The performance of the AlGaAs homojunction cell is attractive with one of the highest reported efficiencies and would be suitable for powering an SRAM memory device through the stacking of Tritiated metal hydride layers and AlGaAs homojunction cells. However, AlGaAs homojunctions cells are difficult to reproduce consistently with uniform dark currents across a semiconductor device due to the oxidation of the aluminum. AlGaAs is also an expensive option to scale up. In addition, the materials production technology is not well developed.
The main disadvantage with the above listed approaches for betavoltaic devices is the construction of the semiconductor with the same design structure as a solar cell structure. Hence the betavoltaic device suffers in efficiency, especially when a weak beta emitter such as Tritium is utilized. Moreover, the need for a high efficiency single crystalline semiconductor with a uniform low dark current across a whole production wafer is key to allowing the Tritium betavoltaic battery to be affordably commercialized.
Safety concerns over containment of the Tritium based battery have emerged as another obstacle to commercialization of the Tritium battery. In commercially available products such as Tritium illumination products (e.g. EXIT signs, gun sights and watch dials) the Tritium is in gaseous form and contained within a glass vial. Many accidents involving Tritium release due to the breakage of the Tritium vials in EXIT signs have caused public concerns and resulted in costly clean ups.
In the case of a Tritium battery with a solid Tritium metal hydride, the risk to exposure is much less than in gaseous form. However, the Tritium metal hydride still involves a miniscule amount of Tritium release when open to the environment at room temperature. Although several Tritium based batteries have been proposed including direct conversion devices built within an integrated circuit, a method of effectively hermetically packaging the battery containing the Tritium metal hydride has yet to be proposed.
A major obstacle to hermetically sealing this type of battery is the risk associated with using a sealing process that involves high temperatures, i.e., above 200-300° C., where Tritium is released from the metal hydride causing failure of the battery after sealing or worse, causing Tritium exposure at the manufacturing facility and to the operator of the equipment for sealing the battery.
In addition to the above listed obstacles, the texturing of a direct conversion semiconductor device to increase the surface area exposed to radiation emission has been proposed several times in the past. For example, on page 282 of the book titled “Polymers, Phosphors and Voltaics for Radioisotope Microbatteries” edited by K. Bower et al., the use of porous Silicon and Tritium inserted into porous silicon holes was proposed as a means of increasing the surface area of the semiconductor device by 20 to 50 times, in contrast to the original planar semiconductor surface area.
The following published patent applications and patents each propose a method of increasing the surface area of the semiconductor by textured growth of the semiconductor or a post-growth texturing method:
US Patent Application Publication 2004/0154656
US Patent Application Publication 2007/0080605
U.S. Pat. No. 7,250,323
U.S. Pat. No. 6,949,865
Central to this approach is the hope that an increase in surface area exposed to radioisotope emissions will increase the power per unit volume of the direct conversion semiconductor device. The overall goal of this approach is to not only reduce the size of the direct conversion device but also to potentially reduce the cost associated with producing the equivalent surface area in a planar semiconductor device.
The problem with such an approach arises when a relatively low energy radioisotope such as Tritium is used. In this case, the incident power is quite small per unit area exposed and the dark current of the semiconductor device is a significant factor in the overall efficiency of the device. For this reason, it is preferred to use single crystal semiconductors where device defects are minimized and the dark current is sufficiently low to produce electrical power.
Unfortunately, alterations to the semiconductor surface, as proposed above, risk increasing lattice defects, resulting in a high number of recombination centers for electron hole pairs (EHP's). This creates a direct conversion semiconductor device with a low open circuit voltage and short circuit current resulting in a low overall efficiency.
In accordance with common practice, the various described features are not drawn to scale, but are drawn to emphasize specific features relevant to the invention. Like reference characters denote like elements throughout the figures and text.